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Harvey's aftermath and walking by faith

Scenes from flooded highways and flooded shelters in Houston are now hitting the news. The authorities know of 30 dead so far, but like we saw with Katrina in New Orleans 12 years ago, the death toll is going to be much higher as more bodies are found.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4836656/At-30-dead-20-000-homeless-Houston.html

Estimates are now reaching $160 billion. If it gets any higher, we’ll be talking about real money. I have yet to see anyone overestimate the damage from a hurricane or any natural disaster. Further, the lost business activity, the destroyed businesses, the lost labor, will probably never be calculated properly. This is a multi-trillion dollar disaster.

First it was the wind, then the rain, then the flooding, then lack of food and water, and now disease. And all of this is the short-term damage. Many can overcome such things for a short time, but this is not a short-term disaster. Next will be the political damage as the government debates the debt ceiling in the context of Hurricane Harvey.

Americans (and anyone else living in Socialist countries) have learned to depend upon their government to save them. But as I said when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the government is overwhelmed by these disasters. People want the problems solved within a few days or a week, but it takes a week just to get started. New Orleans lost a quarter of its population. Many of them moved to Houston. Once they got settled and put their children in school, it was not likely that they would ever move back to New Orleans.

Now the same thing is happening to Houston. The difference is that New Orleans was only a small city. Houston is vastly larger, and that makes the problem even worse. If the US government could not respond to Hurricane Katrina, how is it going to deal with Harvey?

Most people live from paycheck to paycheck. Harvey has not only forced people to stay home without pay, but it has also destroyed countless businesses where they were employed. It will take time for these businesses to rebuild—if they ever recover. Few people can afford to wait to get their jobs back. How many people will have no choice but to move to another city, just like so many did when Katrina struck New Orleans?

In another month, when the US government claims it will “run out of money,” how will the people react to Republican foot-dragging when it comes to raising the debt ceiling and passing a budget? Anyone who threatens to shut down the government will be run over by the train. If Trump insists on threatening to veto a budget deal if the Mexican wall is not funded, he will be run over as well. There is simply no feasible way to stand in the way of the hyperinflation train that is coming.

I suspect, too, that Harvey is not the only natural disaster that is coming. I think it is just the beginning. A second disaster would seal the deal. One can only imagine how widespread fear causes people to react. The result would be revolutionary.

I can only hope that our readers, at least, have been built up in faith to levels sufficient to overcome fear. If you do not live a life of faith, if you call upon faith only in times of need, if you do not have a sense of God’s presence with you at all times, then it is likely that you could react in fear along with the rest of the “normal” population.

We are not called to be part of the problem, but part of the solution. We are not called to compete with others for provisions, but to share what we have with those in need. We are not called to “survive,” but are called to exhibit the life of Christ. We are not called to cope, but to overcome. We are not put into dire circumstances so that we might despair with the others, for we hope in a God that we know personally, One who has led us thus far in our daily lives and who will not leave us as we walk through disaster around us.

I fully expect to hear reports of miracles from Houston and other places after things settle down. I received such reports after Katrina as well in 2005. Remember that the judgments of God are not directed at the saints, but at the oppressive systems of men who keep people enslaved. The judgments of God on Babylon are designed to set us free, to sweep away that which stands in the way of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.